[MUD-Dev] Gossip, fiction and tactical lore

[John Buehler]

Damion Schubert writes:
> From Matt Mihaly:

> I recently did an IRC chat where I espoused my opinion that player
> stories are more important than character stories.

> When designers think in terms of gripping fiction, they think in
> terms of having a backstory that goes on for ages, is 10 layers
> deep, is evident in books around the world, takes half the manual
> to describe, etc, etc, etc.

> However, while there are some people who actually read all of this
> cruft we put out there, players have always seemed universally
> more interested in stories about player interactions.  The king
> declared war on the orcs?  Fascinating.  *yawn* Joe killed Steve?
> Oh, dear.  What's Steve going to do?  Why'd Joe do it?  Steve was
> cybering Joe's online girlfriend?  Who was really a guy?  Good
> stuff!

I dunno about the example of the player entertainment that you
offered, but I certainly support the notion that it's all about the
players.  The characters are game pieces, and their machinations
serve as socialization fodder for the players.  It is decided a much
richer context than a deck of cards or a bunch of chess pieces, so a
rich game environment has serious value.  But I'll offer (believing
myself to be in agreement with Damion) that it all goes back to the
players.

I look forward to the first game that explicitly acknowledges the
existence of the player in addition to the character within the
overall context of the game. This means things like having the
ability to contact a player by name instead of contacting them by
character name.  Or player-to-player voice communication.  There's a
reason that we didn't bother much with characters talking to each
other in our D&D days.  The player conversations were far more fun.

JB


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